Year: 2010

Categories
Bible

Awesome Love

The word love is overused and misused.  Consider the following:

  • I love my wife.
  • I love my house.
  • I love pizza.
  • I love that movie.
  • I love to take nature walks.
  • I’d love to attend.

Love, then, can mean anything from complete devotion to a slight preference — and everywhere in between.  As such, when love is used, it takes on a vague connotation, expressing a feeling that is open to wide interpretations.

Another overused and misused word is awesome.  Its usage also takes on a full gambit of meaning, from being completely amazed to expressing a slight preference.

Awesome literally means to be worthy of awe.  Awe is defined as an inspired mixture of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder.

Given that, it seems to be that only God is truly worthy of our awe — and therefore only God is awesome.

Couple true awesomeness with the ultimate, perfect form of love and one could conclude that God’s love for us is awesome.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

Categories
Bible

We Have Two Swords

In the Bible, Dr. Luke records the scene: Jesus is eating his final meal with his followers.  He is sharing some parting words when he makes a perplexing remark about buying swords.

His disciples matter-of-factly reply that they have two swords.

Did you catch that?  Jesus’ disciples have swords!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never envisioned Jesus’ band of followers as wielding weapons.  Although I’ve seen many paintings of them, along with many more movies, never once did I notice a disciple with a saber strapped at his waist. 

The whole idea seems a bit shocking, yet at a time when Jesus tells them to get a sword, they already have two.

If I were picking people to start a movement with, I’d certainly eliminate anyone brandishing a blade.

Yet, Jesus’ criteria is different.  He accepts his followers as they are — with issues, baggage, problems — and swords.

[See Luke 22:35-38.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.